Original Stepside Truck Bed Hardware

[drmiller1]

What was the original finish of the hardware use to attach the tailights? Bed to fender bolts were painted body color right? These were panhead screws? Seems trivial to some I'm sure, but I like to have original style hardware whenever possible. Pics are good, details are good.

[tgh117]

If I can recall correctly the tail light bracket bolts were hex heads painted to match the body.

The bed to fender attachment was pan head Phillips screws, also painted to match the body.

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by tgh117

If I can recall correctly the tail light bracket bolts were hex heads painted to match the body.

The bed to fender attachment was pan head Phillips screws, also painted to match the body.

This is correct.

drmiller - be careful when restoring the taillamp brackets and fasteners. They originally had star washers, designed to gouge the paint and provide the electrical ground for the tail lamp and turn signal. If you do "too good" a job in this area then you will lose the ground and your turn signals will not work correctly.

Or - you can add an additional ground wire, snaked from the bulb socket through the wire harness and attached to the frame. This was a suitable (and classy) fix.

K

[drmiller1]

Thanks guys,
The truck came with an assortment of stainless steel hex head and Ford body bolts in the bed area. Getting things in correct order can be a slow process. Thanks for the star washer tip Keith. They are used on the lamp to body bracket's only right? Were the panheads for the fender to bed used with washers?

[tgh117]

There is a washer on the fender bolts. But its basically the same diameter as the head of the screw. When I was taking mine all apart I was trying to decide why it was really there.

I ran the extra ground wire to mine myself. If I can find my old box of bolts from my resto, I'll take a look for you and get you a pic.

I replaced every bolt in the whole truck pretty much with stainless, so they should be somewhere in my garage.

[drmiller1]

Thanks tgh117,
I am still trying to figure out where to buy those fender screws. There are many vendors who carry them. Just looking for the best deal. That washer for the fender a flat type?

[tgh117]

yea just a flat washer. I still haven't come across the box that has those in it yet, but I will keep my eye out. seems like a I have a few too many boxes of parts left over from my rebuild/resto...

I know they have them at Mar-K for like 25 ish bucks for the kit.

Good luck with your search.

[drmiller1]

Flat washers okay. I have order some fender bolts from Classic parts of America- .60 each. I will go to the local build box store for the washers.Thanks for the info.

[walkerb]

I have 2 6' stepside and 1 8' box and none had washers on the Philip head fender to bedside bolts.

[drmiller1]

Well that mix's things up a bit. I have just placed my order for screws, maybe this will sort out before they get here. I did notice no washers mention or shown on the website.